Know Your 2017 Oscar Nominees: Actor in a Leading Role
Today begins our Oscars 2017 coverage! We kick off our annual "Know Your Nominee" series by looking at actors in a leading role. In addition to the series, we've also created a special look at the awards—The Road to the Oscars. Click on the image below to learn more about this year's crop of Oscar nominated films and filmmakers, and the effect their contributions have had on the industry and the country at large.
The Sci-Tech Awards Honor the Industry’s Wizards
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences just announced the recipients of its 2017 Scientific and Technical Awards. Among the thirty-four individual winners and five organizations honored are some of the tech brains behind several of our favorite films of the prior year. Having pioneered the CGI Studio renderer at Blue Sky Studios, Carl Ludwig, Eugene Troubetzkoy, and Maurice van Swaaij are included in the Technical Achievement Award winners — Blue Sky, it should be noted,
Kika Magalhaes on Playing the Final Girl in The Eyes of My Mother
Though not always so kind to the women it relies on, the horror genre has long established a multitude of tropes around its female characters, the most famous of which is an integral part of the stalk-and-slash formula: the Final Girl. Often characterized by her placid “innocence,” the Final Girl is often clear-headed, practically minded, brunette, and (most importantly) virginal. But The Eyes of My Mother, the directorial debut from Nicolas Pesce,
Remembering Carrie Fisher
To a generation that came of age in the ‘70s and ‘80s, she will forever be Princess Leia of the Star Wars films, with her iconic buns-like-headphones hairdo, wielding a blaster as she leads the rebellion against the Galactic Empire. To another, slightly older demographic, Carrie Fisher was synonymous with one of the last great Hollywood scandals. The daughter of actress Debbie Reynolds and pop star Eddie Fisher, Carrie Fisher became tabloid fodder at age three when her father left Reynolds to marry Elizabeth Taylor in 1959 at the height of Taylor’s fame.
Molly Shannon on her Heartbreaking Role in Other People
For Molly Shannon fans (and we are legion), it's long been known the former SNL standout had acting chops that stretched beyond her iconic contributions to the show. But what contributions! Shannon became a featured player on SNL in 1995 and inhabited a few of the show's most memorable characters, including (of course) oddball Catholic school girly Mary Katherine Gallagher (Shannon took the character onto the big screen with 1999's Superstar),
Breakout Star Janelle Monáe on Moonlight and Hidden Figures
The multi-talented Janelle Monáe is having one of the most remarkable starts to a film career in recent memory. The iconic musician has moved into acting with two roles in films that will likely vie for Oscars, and her performances in both have been earning plaudits from critics far and wide.
As Teresa in Barry Jenkins' remarkable Moonlight, the story of a young man name Chiron's struggle to find himself,
Loving‘s Breakout Star Ruth Negga on the Role of a Lifetime
If, as expected, Ruth Negga, the breakout star of Loving, snags a best actress nomination, it will likely be met in some corners by furrowed brows and the question, ‘Who’s Ruth Negga?’
They’ll know soon enough. Predominantly a British stage actress who’s played Ophelia at the National Theatre and legendary singer Shirley Bassey in the 2011 BBC biopic Shirley, Negga was born in Addis Ababa to an Irish mother and an Ethiopian father and lived there until she was four before being raised in Limerick and London.
Oscar Watch: La La Land‘s Director Damien Chazelle & Star Emma Stone on Their Moving Musical
Oscar-nominated writer/director Damien Chazelle set out to make a genre film with La La Land. Inspired by classic song-and-dance movies such as Singin’ in the Rain and Swing Time, he wanted to create an old-fashioned musical but “keep it grounded” in realism and contemporary Los Angeles.
“It was about trying to use real locations, use a lot of real spaces,
The Legendary Sonia Braga Talks Aquarius
Sonia Braga became an international star — and nearly single-handedly put Brazilian cinema on the map — when Bruno Barreto’s 1976 sexy comedy Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos (Dona Flor and her Two Husbands) became a U.S. art-house hit with Braga as the breakout star for her earthy, sensual performance. She followed that with two of her trademark roles: Gabriela (1983) reunited her with Barreto as Braga reprised a role she’d played on a popular telenovela of the same name in Brazil that had already made her a star.
Atticus Shaffer Talks Growing Up on The Middle
Over the impressive seven season run of ABC’s The Middle, Brick has been the oft forgotten third child of Frankie (Patricia Heaton) and Mike Heck (Neil Flynn). His family has literally forgotten him at work and school, but actor Atticus Shaffer has become a fan favorite. A child actor no more (he just turned 18), Atticus has played Brick Heck since he was eight years old.
Socially awkward, book smart Brick is a sage and precocious observer who often teaches adults a life lesson or two.
Mark Duplass on Stripping Away Artifice For Blue Jay
Mark Duplass readily admits he’s “a schmaltz hound.”
“I have it deep in me. I can put on Same Time, Next Year or Somewhere in Time and just go for it,” he says. “I’m a nostalgic and melancholic person and I normally try to curb that in my art because I feel like if I don’t, it’s going to run rampant over everything. With this movie,
Gene Wilder: 1933-2016
The dreamers of the world are heartbroken today by the passing of one of the most imaginative talents of our time, Gene Wilder. His nephew, Jordan Walker-Perlman, reported that the comedic legend died from complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 83 years old.
Wilder’s performances were steeped in sincerity that resonated with children and adults. His breakout role in Mel Brooks’ 1967 classic The Producers launched one of Hollywood’s funniest collaborations.
Lennie James on Playing the Moral Center of The Walking Dead
Audiences may have tuned in to The Walking Dead expecting a zombie gore fest, which is often what they get, but the emotional draw of the characters has carried the story through six seasons. The show reached an emotional high as fans have been left to agonize all summer wondering, “Who did Negan kill?” But the moral and emotional tone was introduced by one of the show’s most beloved characters,
From Senator to Bad-Ass, Tovah Feldshuh Talks The Walking Dead
Her first day on Georgia set of The Walking Dead Season Five, Tovah Feldshuh shared a nine-page scene with star Andrew Lincoln to establish her Deanna Monroe character as the level-headed leader of Alexandria's "Safe Zone" gated community. By the time Season Six began, Deanna was instructing Lincoln's Rick Grimes to kill the murderer of her husband with two succinct words: "Do it." Summing up her character arc showcased in The Walking Dead: The Complete Sixth Season (released today,
R2-D2 Actor Kenny Baker Dies at 81
Kenny Baker lived a large, full life. The the 3-foot, 8-inch actor played beloved droid R2-D2 in all six Star Wars films, and was the very character (along with his sidekick, C-3P0) we meet in the very beginning of the first film, 1977’s A New Hope. Baker and C-3P0’s Anthony Daniels are the only actors to have appeared in all six Star Wars films (Daniels was in The Force Awakens,
Chatting With Jeff Goldblum About Independence Day: Resurgence
Twenty years after the humans united to fight the invading aliens, with the help of computer virus uploaded by a nerdy genius David Levinson, played by Jeff Goldblum, the aliens have returned, and Jeff Goldblum has, too, in Independence Day; Resurgence. In an interview, Goldblum talked about returning to the role of David Levinson two decades after the first film. But any conversation with Goldblum is guaranteed to be wide-ranging and he asks at least as many questions as he answers,
Talking to Seth Meyers About Late Night‘s Growing Power
Seth Meyers is really starting to get comfortable in the hosting chair at Late Night: Seth Meyers and people are taking notice of his no holds barred skewering of political issues. We discuss how he manages to present a strong point of view and keep people laughing, being called the ‘heir to Jon Stewart’ and how he feels about Trump (hint: he’s not laughing so hard anymore).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn0eIAyYByI
You are well into your third season now,Remembering Prince
By now you know that Prince, inarguably one of the most talented, singular musicians of his (or any other) generation, died on Thursday at his home, Paisley Park, in Chanhassen, Minnesota. He was 57. The cause of his death is unknown at this time.
The incredibly prolific singer, songwriter, showman, and producer was a musical polymath that had mastered the guitar, keyboards and drums, and who bent rock, R&B, funk and pop to his will. He was a musical prodigy,
Daisy Ridley Answers Your Star Wars: The Force Awakens & Episode VIII Questions
Okay, she's not giving away any spoilers for Episode VIII, of course, but this 30-minute Q&A session with Daisy Ridley is still plenty informative. Ridley, who we don't need to tell you but are duty-bound to write it, anyway (she played Rey in The Force Awakens, there) sat down with StarWars.com’s Andi Gutierrez for a Q&A session broadcast live on on Facebook, answering questions from fans around the world.
Actress Rachel Brosnahan on Louder Than Bombs & House of Cards
Actress Rachel Brosnahan has been steadily building an admirable career on screens both large and small. While entertainment aficionados probably know her best as Rachel Posner, a young prostitute at the center of a political scandal in House of Cards on Netflix, Brosnahan now plays another principal figure in Manhattan on WGN America, and continues to showcase her talent in a variety of independent and studio films.
